Glenn Campbell, former Hoover director, dead at 77

W.
Glenn Campbell, the outspoken director of the Hoover Institution
who built it into an internationally known think tank, died Nov. 24
of a heart attack at his home in Los Altos Hills. He was
77.

A
funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Los Altos
Chapel of Spangler Mortuaries at 399 San Antonio Road. Plans for a
memorial service on campus are pending.

Hoover Director John Raisian said that his predecessor, who
retired in 1989, "served this institution magnificently. He was an
institution builder, an advocate of freedom and a contributor to
our nation's well-being."

In
1960, Campbell, a free-market economist, was handpicked by former
President Herbert Hoover to run his library. Under Campbell's
29-year leadership, the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and
Peace grew into a powerful think tank. Its endowment grew from $2
million to more than $125 million and it more than tripled in size
physically.

"He
was the man who built the Hoover Institution," said Senior Fellow
Melvyn Krauss. "And he was an early founder of think tanks in the
United States. He was a terrific fundraiser and he brought
outstanding people to Hoover."

Former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz said Campbell's
guiding idea in both politics and economics was his "continual
fight for freedom. That led him to all sorts of positions that were
controversial at the time, but not anymore," Shultz said. "He was a
dedicated anti-Communist and a severe critic of the Soviet Union.
Now people say, 'You were right after all.'" He was also dedicated
to market solutions, not government solutions, to economic
problems, Shultz said.

Senior Fellow Bruce Bueno de Mesquita said Campbell
successfully turned an obscure library into one of the world's
leading think tanks. "We had possibly one of the largest sets of
Nobel laureates in economics affiliated with Hoover," he said.
Campbell chafed at the description of Hoover as a conservative
think tank, Bueno de Mesquita said: "Glenn was much broader in his
vision. He hired extraordinary people. Glenn did have a political
side but also an academic side." The fellows included economist
Milton Friedman; physicist Edward Teller, designer of the hydrogen
bomb; Soviet expert Robert Conquest; and Shultz.

Krauss said Campbell successfully hired high-profile stars,
such as Friedman, after they retired from other institutions. At
first, "it was tough for us to get mainline people," he said.
"Glenn was ingenious in his strategy of creating 'over-age'
appointments." And by establishing joint appointments between
Hoover and Stanford departments, a move that allowed scholars to
earn a higher salary, Krauss said, the university became more
competitive in attracting top people.

Campbell was a longtime supporter of former President Ronald
Reagan, whom he met when the one-time actor ran for governor of
California. In 1968, Reagan appointed Campbell to the Board of
Regents of the University of California. He served as a regent for
28 years, often clashing with UC's administration. In 1969, for
example, he sided with Reagan in his crackdown on student protests
over the Vietnam War.

Krauss said that Campbell's close relationship with Reagan
benefited Hoover. "When he became president, we had a bonanza," he
said. Many of the fellows went on to serve in Washington, D.C., and
helped create the ideological framework for the "Reagan
revolution."

Referring to the Hoover Institution book, The United States in
the 1980s, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said, "We have
read this book and have watched all its programs become adopted by
the Reagan administration."

Campbell's close relationship with the Republican Party,
however, often caused him to have run-ins with Stanford. In 1987,
the university thwarted Campbell's effort to bring the Ronald
Reagan Presidential Library and Public Affairs Center to campus.
Stanford's trustees extended to Reagan an invitation to build the
library, but not the public affairs center, concerned that the
latter would turn into a conservative think tank. Reagan initially
accepted the offer but later established his library in Southern
California.

A
year later, the trustees, citing a mandatory retirement age policy,
informed Campbell that he would have to retire in 1989, the year he
turned 65. Campbell fought to stay on but, after securing a
generous retirement package, stepped down and was appointed
counselor to the director. In 1994, Campbell was named director
emeritus.

Campbell was born on a farm in Lobo Township in Ontario,
Canada. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1944
with honors in economics and political science. In 1948, he
graduated from Harvard University with a doctorate in
economics.

Campbell is survived by his wife of 55 years, Rita
Ricardo-Campbell, a Hoover senior fellow emerita; sisters Marjorie
Wyatt and Evelyn McClary of Ontario, Canada; daughters Nancy Yaeger
of Los Angeles, Diane Campbell of Irvine and Barbara Gray of Walnut
Creek; and four grandchildren.

In
lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the MS Awareness
Foundation, (888) 336-6723, or to charities of the donor's
choice.